Thursday, September 20, 2007

Farewell Blogger

This posting is my last here on blogger, A Few Things Ill Considered has moved over to Science Blogs. I am very excitied about the move and pleased to be in the company of such notables as Tim Lambert, William Connolley and Chris Mooney, and many other quality bloggers that I don't yet read regularily.

A Few Things Ill Considered began in January of 2006 and to date has had over 218 thousand visitors and 550 thousand page views. I am grateful and flattered for all this readership. I know it has been quiet recently but I am stepping things up now at the new location. My first introductory post is here.

Science Blogs is holding a contest for the 500,000th comment which is very near, so why not drop by, say hello and win a prize?

2007/09/10: BBC: US predicts polar bear meltdownTwo-thirds of the world's polar bears will be gone by the middle of the century, says a US government agency. The US Geological Survey (USGS) says parts of the Arctic are losing summer ice so fast that no bears will be able to live there within several decades

And here is another feedback mechanism to consider:

South Asia is still being afflicted by the monsoon:

2007/09/11: BBC: S Asia flood devastation worsensThe number of people made homeless by flooding in north-east India and Bangladesh has risen to some 1.5 million, officials say. India's Assam state is suffering its third wave of floods this year, caused by heavy rains over the past four days. The army has evacuated 800,000 people as the Brahmaputra rive and its tributaries flow at danger levels. Downstream in Bangladesh, officials say half a million people are affected and many have been moved to safer places

2007/09/15: CBC: Flooding causes misery in several African countriesThe British Broadcasting Corporation reported on Saturday that not a single country in West, Central and East Africa has been unaffected by the torrential rain. There are also been reports of flood-related deaths or homeless people in Burkina Faso, Togo and Ghana, as well as Ethiopia, Niger, Nigeria, Liberia, Chad, Senegal, Kenya and Mali

2007/09/14: BBC: Health fears after Ghana floodsFlooding from torrential rain has devastated large areas of northern Ghana, and left thousands of people vulnerable to waterborne diseases. At least 20 people have died in the floods, which have submerged land which produces food for the entire country. Almost 400,000 people have lost their homes, a spokeswoman from the Ghana Red Cross told the BBC. Parts of northern Togo have also been affected and 34,000 people have been displaced there, the government says. At least 20 Togolese have also been killed, while 101 bridges and 46 schools have been destroyed.

2007/09/13: BBC: Texas drenched by tropical stormHeavy rain has been falling in Texas after Hurricane Humberto, the first hurricane to hit the US Gulf coast in two years, came ashore on Thursday. One person was reported to have been killed and there were fears of flash flooding in areas already inundated in the wettest summer in 100 years. Power was knocked out in some districts by Humberto's 85mph (140km/h) winds

2007/09/12: BBC: Wheat tops $9 mark for first timeWheat prices have surged to a record, breaking through the $9 a bushel mark for the first time, fanning fears that the cost of bread will also increase. Prices have been driven higher because droughts in key crop regions including Australia have led to smaller harvests

The Pielke fan club just refuses to die:

2007/09/10: DeutscheWelle: Global Blame Game Continues at Berlin Climate ConferenceDuring the opening of a two-day international environment conference in Berlin, developing and industrialized nations remained far apart on who should shoulder responsibility for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Hosting the conference, being held under the auspices of the Gleneagles Dialogue -- a post-Kyoto round of debate on climate protection, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel emphasized the need to accelerate the marketing and spread of climate-friendly technologies. Gabriel said the United Nations Climate Conference being held in Bali in December should provide the "starting signal" for comprehensive talks on a new climate agreement for the period after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol runs out. This had to contain a long-term goal, ambitious and obligatory commitments from the industrialized world, and fair contributions from the larger developing countries, he said.

Here is a duplicitous lede:

2007/09/14: TruthOut: US, UN Stage Dueling Climate MeetsAre the United Nations and the United States trying to outdo each other by hosting two parallel summit meetings on the same subject - climate change - during the same week at the end of September? U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is hosting a high-level meeting of world leaders on Sep. 24 in New York, while U.S. President George W. Bush has invited 20 of "the world's largest polluting countries" to a summit in Washington Sep. 27-28.

What to think about ex-leaders preaching about steps they didn't take?

A UN meeting in Spain on desertification did not go particularly well:

2007/09/15: BBC: UN desertification budget setbackThe United Nations has approved a 10-year strategic plan to tackle desertification, but has failed to reach an accord on the budget. The meeting of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification has ended in Madrid and is expected to move on to New York to try to sort out funding. The UN says desertification caused by climate change and unsuitable farming is a crisis of global proportions.

2007/09/09: SF Chronicle: The issue of our timeThere should be no doubt that global warming is the most compelling issue of our time. If unchecked, it will threaten our national security, stress our economy and degrade our quality of life in so many ways. Our willingness to confront this unprecedented heating of the planet is a test of our moral obligation to our children and their children.Yet it remains a second-tier issue among the candidates for president of the United States. This is unacceptable.

2007/09/14: BBC: Bush aide says warming man-madeThe US chief scientist has told the BBC that climate change is now a fact. Professor John Marburger, who advises President Bush, said it was more than 90% certain that greenhouse gas emissions from mankind are to blame

In the wake of the Vt. vs. Automakers ruling, State Governors are pushing for action:

2007/09/12: Google:AP: Governors Seek Action on Global WarmingGovernors want to expand state regulation of greenhouse gases in hopes of increasing pressure for federal action on global warming, the chairman of the National Governors Association said Wednesday. Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn., said in an Associated Press interview that getting more states to limit greenhouse gases is a priority among clean energy issues for the group. Others include spurring energy conservation and broadening use of renewable fuels such as ethanol.

2007/09/10: BBC: Tory group urges 'green rebate'A stamp duty rebate for home-buyers who improve domestic energy efficiency is to be proposed by the Conservatives' Quality of Life policy group this week. It also proposes council tax and VAT cuts - and capping the energy use of appliances like TVs and fridges. As details of Thursdays report emerged, leader David Cameron said he would put up green taxes "and use the proceeds to reduce taxes elsewhere".

And in Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, prorogued parliament to wait out a provincial election and 3 byelections:

2007/09/09: DeSmogBlog: Proud to be Canadian: NOT!Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, speaking today at the close of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Sydney, said, "I'm also very pleased that the Sydney Declaration mirrors the Canadian climate change approach on many levels." By which he clearly meant: We're not planning to do anything about it, either.

2007/09/14: CanWest: NDP plans to put 'dead' Kyoto bill back into playThe federal New Democrats plan to embarrass the Tories by reintroducing the clean-air and climate-change legislation that died in the last Parliament. NDP environment critic Nathan Cullen said he will table a private-member's bill soon after federal politicians return to the Commons in October. The original government legislation, Bill C-30, was rewritten by the three opposition parties in a special committee last winter. Their goal was to force the government to live up to the provisions of the Kyoto Accord. The bill would impose tougher targets on large industrial polluters, such as the oilsands sector in Alberta, in a way that would translate into higher financial penalties. But Prime Minister Stephen Harper killed the bill when he announced his intention to shut down Parliament and start a new session with a throne speech.

2007/09/10: IHT: New [IEA] energy agency chief sees household energy use rising in industrial countriesDespite the growing political commitment to tackling global warming, individual energy use and carbon emissions in the leading industrial countries have actually increased in recent years, the new head of a major energy advisory group said Monday. Nobuo Tanaka, the first non-European chosen to lead the International Energy Agency, said during an interview that Europe, Canada, Australia and particularly the United States had to do much more to increase energy efficiency if they wanted to have any credibility when calling on India and China to act

"We basically have three choices: mitigation, adaptation and suffering. We’re going to do some of each. The question is what the mix is going to be. The more mitigation we do, the less adaptation will be required and the less suffering there will be." -John Holdren, AAAS president